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A vice-president at MidOcean Partners, the transatlantic private equity firm which spun out of Deutsche Bank in 2003, has left the business. The move leaves MidOcean with just a single investment professional in London as doubts grow about the firm’s commitment to the European market.

Tomas Chubb, a vice president in MidOcean’s investment team, has left the firm to take up the role of investment director at Australian-based private equity firm Archer Capital. Chubb’s departure leaves European managing partner Graham Clempson as the sole senior investment professional based in London.

Chubb was one of two vice presidents, alongside Anthony Bellau, recruited to MidOcean’s European team in 2009 which Clempson said at the time was part of a wider drive to boost execution and operational resources in the firm’s London office.

Since then, the firm has failed to complete a single buyout deal -- with the exception of bolt-on acquisitions -- outside of the US, according to data provider Dealogic and the firm’s website. The firm ceded control of retail marketing agency Bezier to HIG Europe last month leaving gym chain LA Fitness as the sole remaining European based investment in its portfolio.

According to two investors in MidOcean’s fund, the firm has reversed its plan of maintaining a dedicated European execution team and intends to focus on deal opportunities in the US, while taking an opportunistic stance on European deals. MidOcean did not respond to requests for comment.

Clempson, in addition to his role at MidOcean, has taken up the role of non-executive chairman of Caird Capital, the firm formed from the legacy Bank of Scotland's private equity portfolio last year. A spokesman for Caird confirmed the appointment, saying it was a predominately “hands off” role.

MidOcean’s most recent deal was the purchase of the South Beach Diet brand, a series of slimming products that includes books, a subscription-based website and a line of branded food products. The firm’s last fund raised $1.35bn in 2007, the same year that it moved its sector teams to its New York office.